Yorke: Scottish Indoor Sprint Champion
February 11th, 2008A triumphant weekend for young Gala Harrier Demi Yorke saw her complete a unique achievement for the club in Glasgow, by becoming the first ever indoor Scottish sprint champion in the club’s long history.
While Dwaine Chambers was stealing the headlines in Sunday’s indoor athletic meeting at Sheffield, Demi had already written herself into the history books on Saturday with her Under 13 sprint win and an impressive silver medal in the long jump.
Lining up for the 60 metre distance, Demi won her first heat in 8.6 seconds, stormed through the semi final in 8.55 and took on the two favourites in the final, beating the experienced Tawana Gardner by 1/600th of a second to take the gold in a time of 8.43, a personal best time for her.
As if this were not enough, she was also keen to shine in the U13 long jump and didn’t disappoint with a first jump of 4m 10cm which put her in 3rd place, a second personal best leap of 4m 30cm and a final sensational jump of 4m 38cm, only 4 cm shy of the winning distance, to produce a spectacular silver medal position, quite a haul for a day’s work.
Her coach Neil Renton said - “she should be immensely proud of her achievement, both for herself and for her club. This is the first time Gala Harriers has had a national sprint champion, indoor or outdoor, senior or junior and it’s a fantastic result for Demi and for Gala.”
Elsewhere in the indoor arena, Sophie Elder and Annabel Hughes were competing in the Under 15 girls 60m and 200m sprints. Sophie claimed a bronze medal in the B final of the 200m in a time of 27.70, having won her heat in 27.87 and also ran well in the 60m race with consistent times of 8.50 and 8.51 to gain 4th and 5th places in her heat and semi final.
Also running well, Annabel ran 8.95 in her 60m heat and 29.80 in her 200m heat, coming 5th and 3rd in each respectively.
Both girls had also been competing in the Scottish Schools Indoor Championships in Glasgow on Thursday, along with Gala Harriers’ Emily Douglas and Paul Ferguson, all of whom will have gained from this experience.
Still with the youngsters but outside in the tough conditions of the open country, Harrier Hannah Jones was competing for her school in the Northern Schools Cross Country championships at Middlesborough last weekend. In the Under 13 class she ran out of her skin to come in 19th place overall as the 4th counter for Northumberland county in the team race, thus ensuring her place in the English Schools National XC final in Liverpool on March 8th. Considering that Hannah is still young in this age group it is an immense achievement and her twin sister Emily also ran a fine race to finish 44th overall.
The next outing for the Harriers is the final event in the Borders Winter Cross Country series at Lauder on 17th February, juniors at 11.30, seniors at 12 noon.
sue gardner Says:
Hi this is tawana gardners, very well done to Demi York on her victory, however i would just like to point out that Tawana is only 10 yrs old and this was her first indoor event and also her first time out as an under 13 yr old.(not quite as experienced as one may think) not to take anything away from Demi as Tawana is showing the beginnings of being a major talent. Well done for a great race
rosi capper Says:
Hi Sue - thank you for your response and I do apologise for assuming Tawana was more experienced than she is - her prodigious talent belies her age! Well done on a fantastic race! We’ll follow her career with interest.
sue gardner Says:
many thanks for those lovely comments, we thought your girl was a fantastic runner too
Dawn Philip Says:
Thank you for your nice comments. We extend our congratulations to Tawana on her excellent run in gaining the silver medal. It was a great race. This is Demi’s 1st full year in competitive athletics. It seems Demi has some great competition, which is good for both girls. Demi has a raw talent though and can only get better and better. Look forward to following Demi and Tawana competing again in future.
All the best Tawana.
Dezz Reynolds Says:
Hi
I am Dezz Reynolds Tash’s Coach at Blackpool. I was talking to Sue last night and thought that i may add a comment.
Being from Hawick myself i was very pleased to see Demi run at kelvin hall in February.Having obsevered her achievements through the SAA.I am pleased for her and its good for the Borders.
I agree that she is a very talented young girl,and watching her start and balanced run in glasgow, believe that she has the makings of a very good sprinter and the potential to achieve a lot more.
I am hoping that once we can get Tash to handle her body movements (coordination) that she too will come on and follow in the footsteps of other girls from blackpool who have achieved a lot at the scottish indoor championships over the years.
Both extremely talented young athletes Demi And Tash are without doubt a pleasure to watch.
Our season starts on sunday and i hope all the best for Demi when she runs this years, I will be looking for her in the results section. Again well done to Demi was nice to see. Dezz